As a follow-up to yesterday’s blog post on dying to be happy, I thought I would share with you the lyrics from Tim McGraw’s song, “Live Like You Were Dying”, which just played on Y101 A few minutes ago.
He said I was in my early forties
with a lot of life before me
when a moment came that stopped me on a dime
and I spent most of the next days
looking at the x-rays
Talking bout the options
and talking bout sweet time
I asked him when it sank in
that this might really be the real end
how’s it hit you when you get that kinda news
man what’d you doand he said
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.He said I was finally the husband
that most the time I wasn�t
and I became a friend a friend would like to have
and all the sudden going fishin
wasn’t such an imposition
and I went three times that year I lost my dad
well I finally read the good book
and I took a good long hard look
at what I’d do if I could do it all againand then
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.Like tomorrow was a gift and you got eternity to think about
what’d you do with it what did you do with it
what did I do with it
what would I do with it?Sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I watched an eagle as it was flying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying
To live like you were dying
I think people need to listen to this song to get the full effect. The lyrics provide some good messages and combined with the music you really get a profound sense of the song.
@ Paul …that’s usually the way it is with congs.
Life exists in opposites or dichotomies. There’s no left, without right. There’s no up, without down. There’s no life without death.
I challenge my productive and busy business owner clients to sit in complete silence for 5 minutes a day for 1 week. The instructions are to sit in an upright chair, with eyes closed focusing on the breath. When thoughts arrive, they’re to return to their breath.
In the 12 years, I’ve been posing this challenge, not one of my clients have succeeded. I suspect that as they sit with themselves and get out of “busyness”, they get in touch with their existential angst and start experiencing thoughts and feelings that they’d rather avoid, one of them being the “background hum” of death.
Until we come face-to-face with death, we can’t live fully.
David,
Thanks for the work you are doing. I believe the topic of happiness, particularly as it relates to helping others understand that they deserve to be happy and, if they choose, can take certain steps toward becoming happy or happier, is an important contribution to humanity.
I recently published (December 2008) The Short Book on Happiness: Transform Your Life in 10 Days. I hope you have an oppotunity to take a look. It is on amazon, B&N, etc.
Thanks, and I hope we have an opportunity to connect sometime soon!
David Cane
Hard to do if you are not faced with the situation, but if you can strive to always be better than yesterday, you can slowly archive the qualities.
This song reminds me of the movie The Bucket List.
Where Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman are diagnosed with cancer and head off to fulfill some dreams and goals. Good movie.
Don’t forget to Dance Like No One is Watching!
I am feeling some pain after reading this beautiful poem. I went back…and so back in my early days…
I know i cannot sleep tonight because i’ll see the dreams of my past with open eyes. Really Really thanks for this beautiful poem
To live like you are dying is abit strong, but every word is true. You are always drawing nearer to death, so you should live every day to the full and make sure you enjoy yourself well your here. Very morbid, but a very good poem.
Hey, I am very impressed by this poem especially the paragraph
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.